Julie Fields* had a hunch one day last year that her 14-year-old son Ben* was doing something he shouldn’t be. Nothing particularly prompted her into thinking this – call it a mother’s intuition, if you will.
When he was out with friends one day, the 44-year-old checked Ben’s bedside drawer and saw two vapes tucked away.
Julie didn’t hit the roof at what she found. Instead, she removed the offending e-cigarettes – or ‘bars’ as they’re also known – and decided to wait until Ben noticed.
It took a few months until he did, and the two had a frank conversation about his newly acquired habit.
‘He said he’d been smoking them for a year, and had got them off a friend from school,’ Julie, who lives just outside Bristol, explains to Metro.co.uk. ‘He said he’d only vape when stressed, and at sleepovers, but not doing it all the time, every day.’
While she was grateful for his honesty, Julie was taken aback that Ben had gotten into vaping so young, particularly as he’s a fitness-conscious youngster who plays rugby and football.
‘Ben hates smoking, he hates being around people that smoke, so I was surprised he was vaping,’ she admits. ‘But I don’t think he sees it in quite the same way. I think he sees it in the same way as eating sweets.’
Ben himself isn’t concerned, shrugging off any suggestion vaping could be bad for him.
‘I prefer vaping over cigarettes because cigarettes have a significant impact on your health and vapes have a combination of flavours and look better,’ he tells us.
‘I’m not worried about it affecting my performance in sports because after vaping for a while, I noticed no difference at all.’
However, Julie herself is less thrilled at the prospect of her underage son puffing away on e-cigarettes.
‘I’d rather he didn’t do it. Like I’d rather he didn’t drink alcohol,’ she says. ‘But he is 14. For the main part, each teenager is trying to find out where they fit. If their peers are doing it, and they don’t, how does that look?’
Ben is one of many in the UK who are eschewing ‘real’ cigarettes for the electronic kind, a habit which has rapidly grown popular in recent years; the UK vaping market is now worth more than £1 billion alone.
A recent survey by Action on Smoking and Health found that in England, around four million people vape regularly, compared to six million who smoke.
However, it’s the younger end of the population that are swapping cigs for bars: vaping in people aged 11-18 had doubled from 4% in 2020 to 8.6% in 2022.
Traditional cigarette smoking figures for the same age-group had gone down slightly from 6.7% in 2020 to 6.0% in 2022.
With soaring numbers of young people taking up the habit, the Department of Health and Social Care commissioned the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience team from King’s College London to undertake the biggest review on its kind on vaping and its comparison to cigarettes.
The study found that while smoking cigarettes is worse for your health than vaping, choosing to vape is not entirely free from risk. Many still contain nicotine, a highly addictive chemical that can increase in blood pressure, heart rate, flow of blood to the heart and a narrowing of the arteries – and a new study has shown e-cigarettes were found to cause similar damage to blood vessels as smoking tobacco.
While research has determined that vaping is better for you in general when compared to cigarettes, the long-term effects are still unknown, and yet to be determined by studies. It’s generally agreed that if you don’t smoke, you shouldn’t take up vaping.
Ben has no complaints after vaping fairly regularly for a year – well, bar a few.
‘I’ve noticed no adverse effects since I started vaping, apart from an occasional dry mouth, known as “cotton mouth,” he says. ‘And if you do too much vaping in a short period of time you get a stomach, also known as “nic sick” or a “nic rush” where you get dizzy – but in a good way.’
However, Chad Texiera’s excessive vaping throughout 2020 saw him question whether his penchant for e-cigarettes was actually doing him damage.
The 26-year-old, who had smoked occasionally for four years beforehand, decided to switch to vapes two years ago. With the small plastic device never far from his reach, he’d disappear behind a plume of synthetic strawberry flavoured smoke – far more regularly compared to when he was smoking actual cigarettes.
‘I’d only ever really smoke socially before, on nights out with friends, or whenever I was stressed,’ Chad explains. ‘I’d been a smoker for four years before I moved on to vapes, because I really dislike the smell of cigarettes, it’s f***ing disgusting. Vaping was easier – there’s no smell and you can do it indoors.
‘I used to smoke when I was stressed, but with vapes, I found it was just doing it out of boredom. When I was working on a laptop, when I was watching TV, cooking, whatever… I was basically vaping for the fun of it.’
At the peak of his habit in 2020, Chad, who works as a CEO for a comms and marketing company, found himself going through at least one vape a day – roughly the equivalent nicotine of between 48 – 50 cigarettes. And at £5 a pop, he was easily spending around £200 to fund his habit.
However, around the same time, Chad found himself getting increasingly ill – shortness of breath, sleepiness, headaches and a constant dry cough, accompanied by a sore throat. Initially, he thought he’d succumbed to Covid – but when Chad started having heart palpitations and suffered from bleeding gums, he realised it might be something else.
‘I saw my dentist and she put all these problems down to vaping,’ he says. ‘In conjunction with all my other symptoms, I was like: “Oh God, this is killing me!” I knew I really had to stop.’
Dr Alka Patel believes that far more needs to be done for people to be made aware of the risks of trying vapes which contain a substance as highly as addictive as nicotine.
‘Comparing vapes to cigarettes is like comparing mercury to arsenic – both dangerous in their own way, and neither safe,’ she tells Metro.co.uk. ‘I suspect the serious dangers of vapes will emerge over the next decade but we have to learn from history and not allow alternatives to cigarettes which continue to expose us to harmful chemicals to be an acceptable alternative.
‘We’re creating a next level generation of addiction – it’s a public health catastrophe where control is given away to manufacturers and advertising giant.’
Dr Patel continues: ‘We know that heating the metal coils in vapes results in toxic metals appearing in lung and blood fluids. A meta-analysis in 2020 showed aluminum, antimony, arsenic, cadmium, cobalt, chromium, copper, iron, lead, manganese, nickel, selenium, tin, and zinc in vapes and e-cigarettes. I have concerns about how vaping is marketed as more healthy when we are nowhere close enough to be able to say that.
‘What we can say with confidence however is that vapers are inhaling a mix of thousands of complex chemicals and we have no idea what they are or what they are doing. Now what we need to do is to connect the dots between these metals and cognitive dysfunction, kidney damage, immune impairment, abdominal pain, tiredness and more. We’re letting public hunger run ahead before we’ve learnt how to walk with the science first.’
Despite this lack of knowledge or even awareness of the risks that vaping could pose, it hasn’t stopped young people being intrigued by this relatively new phenomenon.
Gone are the days of sneaking behind the bike shed to try your first illicit Marlboro Light, with teachers now reporting a rise in vaping amongst secondary school pupils.
Blackpool Conservative councillor Andrew Stansfield recently claimed vaping was ‘rife’ in the town’s schools, and estimated that 75% of students were using e-cigarettes.
One London-based teacher, who requested not to be named, said he was asked to break up an illicit ‘vape club’ that took place once a week in the girls’ toilets, where girls as young as 11 were bringing in different flavoured vapes to try. Another parent was left baffled when her pre-teen daughter asked if she could buy a vape for her friend, also 12, for Christmas.
It’s something Lucy Baker, 46, has been particularly aware of in more recent weeks herself, as she’s observed her 12-year-old daughter becoming more intrigued with vaping.
‘She’s hugely curious about vapes,’ Lucy tells Metro.co.uk. ‘She tells me the majority of her friends have tried it or are all vaping – and that’s just in Year 7.
‘She said that she went to her friend’s house after school one day, and the 11-year-old daughter and her mum were sharing a vape.
‘If I take my eldest to school or shopping in our nearest town of Lincoln, I see people of all ages puffing away on vapes. You don’t even need to go to a specialist shop to buy them anymore – there’s shelves and shelves of them in the newsagents.’
Lucy, who works as a confidence coach, agrees that vaping is effectively regarded by children in a similar way to how Gen X’ers may have seen smoking in their youth, and may be feeling peer pressure to join in.
‘I try and warn her that vapes contain nicotine, which is addictive,’ she says. ‘But she says it won’t happen to her, she won’t get hooked. We’ve all said that at some point in our lives, and it’s only when you come an adult and look back, you realise, actually, those cigarettes were addictive.
‘We’re having quite an open conversation about it, but it’s quite a fraught one as I’m obviously telling her not to be so ridiculous.’
Lucy also fears the lack of knowledge available to children and parents alike mean that no-one is wholly aware of the risks of vaping.
‘I don’t think there’s an awareness of kids at all that vapes are effectively more than just sweets,’ she says. ‘Unlike cigarettes, vaping devices can come in pretty pastel colours and be covered in glitter. They don’t taste gross like cigarettes, they can be fruity and sweet, so it doesn’t feel like they’re bad for you.
‘Vaping is definitely the status symbol of the younger generation. My daughter is adamant everyone around her is doing it. I know for a fact she’s taken my husband’s vape before and has recorded herself on her phone, vaping.’
Lucy believes it’s the influence of social media brands, such as TikTok, which are partly responsible in seeing so many young people become vape-curious.
‘TikTok makes me so angry because I can’t police what she sees on there,’ Lucy says. ‘So much on there is not verified or fact checked. She just sees lots of people vaping and thinks she should be too.’
TikTok in particular has been criticised for helping fuel the boom in e-cigarettes, after a broadsheet investigation found that some brands were paying influencers to promote their vapes in videos.
It’s a clear violation of the Advertising Standards Agency, which explicitly forbids ads for nicotine-containing e-cigarettes not licensed as medicines across every media platform.
And with TikTok being the app of choice for young people, with half of eight to 11-year-olds and three-quarters of 16 to 17-year-olds using the app regularly, the platform has been criticised by public health charities for not doing enough to sanction those who violate advertising standards.
Deborah Arnott, chief executive of Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), explained to Metro.co.uk: ‘Vaping is not risk free. Although the evidence is clear that it’s much less harmful than smoking and can help smokers quit, if you don’t smoke, don’t vape. The glamorous promotion of vaping to young people on social media is completely inappropriate and TikTok is one of the worst offenders, they need to take responsibility and turn off the tap.’
In response, a spokesperson from TikTok told Metro.co.uk: ‘At TikTok, keeping our community safe is a top priority. We prohibit content that depicts or promotes the sale, trade or offer of tobacco, including vaping products, and we will remove any content found to violate our Community Guidelines. We also do not recommend content that shows or promotes tobacco products in TikTok users’ feeds.’
The UK Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA) are also stepping up to ensure those who are underage cannot purchase vapes.
‘The UKVIA takes the issue of youth vaping extremely seriously,’ John Dunne, Director General of the UK Vaping Industry Association told Metro.co.uk. ‘Our code of practice already has a significant emphasis on safeguarding against vape products getting into the hands of minors. When joining the association, members have to commit to never selling vaping products to anyone under 18 years old and apply a ‘Challenge 25’ policy in all retail environments.
‘We are doing everything possible to cut off the sales of vapes to Under 18 years olds at source, working closely with Trading Standards and retail trade bodies across the country.’
Dunne continued: ‘More recently we wrote to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and proposed a number of recommendations to come down hard on those who sell vapes to minors. This included the introduction of a retail licensing or approved retailer and distributor scheme; increased penalties of at least £10,000 per instance for traders who flout UK law; and the introduction of a national test purchasing scheme to ensure all the country’s retail operations are performing to high standards when it comes to preventing youth access to e-cigarettes.’
However, for Lucy, these actions are too little, too late, when so many youngsters already have access to e-cigarettes.
‘I know it sounds drastic, but I think vapes need to be totally banned,’ she says. ‘I don’t think any amount of parents or schools saying “don’t do it” will make a difference.
‘They’re too attractive, they look fun, they taste fun, they’re all about fun, but underlying is possible addiction and spending all your money on a vape.
‘People forget that these aren’t adults who have all the information to make an informed choice as to whether to vape or not. These are kids. I don’t want my children to get addicted to nicotine. I don’t want to deal with my kid who wants to spend her pocket money on a vape because she’s addicted.’
The damage done by excessive nicotine consumption can be undone, says Dr Patel – but only if ‘it’s stopped early’.
‘The longer you vape the more inflammation becomes ingrained in your lungs, resulting in chronic changes at a cellular level, the more the metal toxicity takes effect at a cellular level and the more the DNA damage becomes irreversible.
‘Don’t be fooled into thinking that vaping is a healthy alternative to smoking cigarettes just because you want it to be.’
For Julie, she knows she can’t prevent Ben vaping, unless she physically bans him from leaving the house.
However, she does worry that vaping may lead to a ‘gateway’ for more harmful habits.
‘The bottom line is, I can’t stop him from doing it,’ she admits. ‘If I had magic words of wisdom that would have an effect, I would use them. And we just don’t know if vaping does lead to longer-term damage. To be honest, if I was presenting him with studies saying vapes caused serious diseases, I still don’t think it’ll stop him – teenagers think they’re invincible and that it won’t happen to them.’
She continues: ‘I’d rather he was vaping than smoking or trying spliffs, but I don’t know where he is, or what he would or wouldn’t do. I’m hoping it’s a passing fad, and that he grows out of it.’
Ben, however, has other ideas.
‘I think I’m addicted, sometimes I’m at home and think I’d really like a nic rush, or I wish I had a vape on me,’ he says. ‘I can potentially see myself vaping in the near [future] and further.
‘I’m not worried about potential side effects which might occur in the long run, though.’
*Names have been changed
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